BIRDS OF WINDHAM AND BENNINGTON 

 COUNTIES. 



MRS. ELIZABETH B. DAVENPORT. 



For the larger part of my life I have been somewhat 

 familiar with the flora and fauna of southern Vermont. In 

 the earlier years I drove wherever roads were passable, and 

 followed the fishermen along most of the trout streams into 

 the heart of the hills. Since the organization of the Bird 

 Club my purpose has been to go over the region very tho- 

 roughly to verify previous observations, and add such new 

 data as opportunity offered. 



Windham and Bennington counties reach entirely across 

 the State and include a little more than one fourth of its 

 latitudinal extent, a territory embracing approximately 

 forty miles square. Lat. about 42 :30. — 43 :20. Long. 

 72:30 — 73:15. (Windham Co. 700 square miles. Benning- 

 ton 780 square miles, 4-5 farms and 3-4 of this under culti- 

 vation.) West River, with its various affluents drains tlie 

 northeast part of Windham County, emptying into the Con- 

 necticut in Brattleboro. Green river waters some of the south 

 central townships. The Deerfield cuts a tortuous way from 

 the wilds of Stratton southward. West of the Deerfield 

 watershed the drainage is mainly to the Hoosac, Walloom- 

 sic and Battenkill. (A few streams, however, finally reach 

 the waters of Lake Champlain.) 



The altitude of the territory varies greatly, being lowest 

 on the eastern side of such townships as border on the Con- 

 necticut River, about 200 feet at the river in Brattleboro, 

 and not rising much northward in Windham county. Along 

 the Connecticut, however, the river valley is narrow, and 

 the ascent of the land westward is rapid, reaching 3600 

 attitude in Somerset and over 3800 feet in Manchester, 

 most of the hills ranging from 2200 feet to 3000 feet. The 

 lowest altitude in Bennington county is I think 700 feet at 

 Pownal in the southwest corner of the State. 



The southern parts of Stanford and Pownal differ great- 

 ly from the eastern townships. Passing from Readsboro 

 through the last "Wind-gap" of the Green Mountains we 

 leave the valley of the Deerfield and enter that of the 

 Hoosac. As we descend to the broadening alluvial plain, 

 the north branch of the Hoosac lies between the Hoosac 

 range on the east, and the diminishing hills of the Green 



